BATON ROUGE — Yvette Girouard, the eighth winningest active Division I softball coach with 758 wins in 20 seasons at Louisiana-Lafayette, was named the new head softball coach at LSU at a press conference Monday afternoon in the LSU Athletic Administration building.
Girouard replaces Glenn Moore, who resigned last month to take the head coaching position at Baylor University.
“We really felt that the program was at a point to where we needed to look nationally for a coach,” said LSU Associate Athletic Director for Olympic Sports Debbie Corum in introducing Girouard. “So we did. It was thought that when the Southeastern Conference started conference play, (Girouard) would fall on her face. But, she came back and showed that she could really coach.”
Girouard, in her two decades at Louisiana-Lafayette, built the Cajun team from a club program with no scholarships and a $3,000 budget to one of the nation’s perennial powers. Louisiana-Lafayette advanced to the College World Series three times, finishing fifth twice and posting a third-place finish in the 1993 event when the Cajuns had a 57-7 mark.
In 20 years at UL Lafayette, Girouard has posted a record of 758-252 (.750), earning national Division I Coach of the Year honors in both 1990 and 1993. She was the South Region Coach of the Year five times and has been the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year nine times, including each of the last two seasons.
She advanced her team to the NCAA regional round 10 times in the last 11 years and ironically, her 758th win was a 4-1 decision over LSU on the second day of the NCAA Regional at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge. Her team hosted seven NCAA Regional rounds at Lady Cajun Park. In the 1990s, her Cajuns had the third best winning percentage in the nation behind only Arizona and UCLA.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for me,” Girouard told a room filled with media, family and friends. “What you have done here in this span of time (at LSU) is incredible. No one, and I’ve been in this game, this will be my 21st year of coaching, no one in the country thought that the SEC could be this good this fast. LSU has been at the pinnacle, it’s been better than any of the rest.
“It is my challenge and my goal to bring us to the next level. I think it’s the challenge and the goal of all coaches. I have a challenge ahead of me because of what you have accomplished in such a short time. I look at this as a great opportunity for me. It’s a challenge. It’s a chance for me to be in a conference with some of my former players, coaches, and many of my friends. So we look forward to this, and ready to get to work right away.”
Girouard, who was born in Broussard, La., just outside Lafayette, attended Comeaux High School and earned a B.S. from USL (as it was known then) in 1976 in Health and Physical Education. During her college days, she played on the Lady Cajun volleyball team and was named as the school’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1976.
Following college, Girouard served as head softball coach at Lafayette High School where she began the program in 1977. In 1980 she coached her alma mater, Comeaux, before beginning the UL Lafayette softball program.
Her UL Lafayette team had 19 straight winning seasons and she has coached 28 All-Americans and 13 Academic All-Americans. She has served a three-year term as the South Region Representative on the NCAA All-American Committee and served two two-year stints, including the last two seasons, on the NCAA South Regional ranking committee.
Girouard did announce that James DeFeo, who coached last season at UL Lafayette, will join her on the LSU staff for the 2001 season.
At LSU, Girouard inherits a team that won the Southeastern Conference Western Division each of the four years since the program was reinstated.
The last two seasons, the Tigers captured the overall regular season SEC championship. The LSU team has been to the NCAA regionals each of the last three years, hosting the last two. This past season, the Tigers advanced to the final game of the regional, before losing to Southern Miss, 1-0, in nine innings.
“They say life is a journey and not a destination,” Girouard said. “Well, somehow, this seems that this is the destination. I am standing here as the head coach at LSU, and I am tickled to death.”
WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT COACH GIROUARD —
“When you have a dominant program, everyone else tries to get better and beat her. You see the results. Regionally, you have to keep up with her. She’s done more for the South than any other coach.” — Alabama head coach Pat Murphy
“She’s very respected. . . .I think you have a coach that is one of the top in the field. She’s very well-respected across the country.” — South Carolina head coach Joyce Compton.
YEAR-BY-YEAR WITH YVETTE GIROUARD —
At UL Lafayette
| Year | Won | Lost | Pct. | Notable |
| 1981 | 7 | 15 | .318 | |
| 1982 | 15 | 13 | .536 | LAIAW Champions |
| 1983 | 22 | 13 | .629 | 3rd place, SLC |
| 1984 | 28 | 9 | .757 | SLC Champs |
| 1985 | 39 | 13 | .750 | SLC Champs |
| 1986 | 32 | 19 | .627 | SLC Champs |
| 1987 | 31 | 18 | .633 | National Inv. Championships participant; SLC Champs |
| 1988 | 29 | 16 | .644 | No. 22 national ranking |
| 1989 | 48 | 16 | .750 | No. 21 national ranking |
| 1990 | 44 | 8 | .846 | No. 7 ranking; NCAA Regionals |
| 1991 | 33 | 10 | .767 | No. 14 ranking; NCAA Regionals |
| 1992 | 41 | 12 | .774 | No. 12 ranking; NCAA Regionals |
| 1993 | 57 | 7 | .891 | No. 8 ranking; Third place finish in College World Series |
| 1994 | 57 | 5 | .919 | No. 2 ranking; NCAA Regionals |
| 1995 | 49 | 9 | .845 | No. 5 ranking; Fifth place finish in College World Series |
| 1996 | 46 | 10 | .821 | No. 5 ranking; Fifth place finish in College World Series |
| 1997 | 46 | 18 | .718 | No. 13 ranking; NCAA Regionals |
| 1998 | 36 | 15 | .706 | |
| 1999 | 54 | 11 | .831 | No. 4 ranking; NCAA Regionals |
| 2000 | 45 | 15 | .750 | No. 16 ranking; Sun Belt Champions; NCAA Regionals |
| Totals | 758 | 252 | .750 | Three CWS appearances; 10 regional appearances. |
COACHING HONORS
NCAA Division I Coach of the Year: 1990, 1993
South Region Coach of the Year: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
Louisiana Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year: 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000
Southland Conference Coach of the Year: 1984, 1985, 1987